BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

This is number one with a bullet. I thought that
Calvin Abueva got under their skins. After Abueva’s flagrant foul, he returned
and immediately fished four fouls from the Beermen, got three floor burns, got
to the free throw line and pulled down a rebound. Within minutes, San Miguel
was in penalty situation and their lead that once looked imperious at 22 had
whittled down.

I am still surprised that after all this time the
Beermen react to Abueva’s tactics and antics. Some like David Semerad have
played against him for so long that he still doesn’t know how to play the
Beast.

The Beermen were complaining all match long about
botched calls and dirty plays then when you look over to the Alaska side,
they’re grinning. In this regard, the mental battle which is more than half the
game, went the Aces’ way.

SMB was whistled for a total of 26 fouls to the 15 of
Alaska. That resulted in the Aces going to the free throw line 26 times to the
18 of the Beermen (both sides missed six a piece none more crucial than JuneMar
Fajardo’s late free throw that could have won them the game).

I’d say that Abueva isn’t only “the Beast” but “the
Beast Master.”

Execution.
Execution. Execution.

I will point to four things that did the Beermen in.

One, the defense on JuneMar Fajardo. He was double
and triple-team all night long. Sometimes, they took too long in getting the
ball to him that by the time it arrived, there was a wall in front of him. One
time late in the game, Alex Cabagnot gave him a bounce pass although several
steps away from his sweet post spot. JV Casio promptly stole the ball away. I
thought that SMB was forcing the issue. When they needed to be creative or go
to other players, they didn’t. I thought the point guards of MSB did a poor job
of reading what was going on. Sure SMB had more assists in the game but they
got a lot of those when they posted their early lead.

Second, that ill-advised three-point attempt by Alex
Cabagnot late in the game. Took everyone by surprise and there were no
rebounders in sight for the Beermen.

Third, that play in the dying minutes after the
Cabagnot missed trey where Chris Lutz and Arwind Santos ate up the shot clock
passing the ball around atop the three-point arc. When Lutz drove into a crowd
he passed to Marcio Lassiter who trailed on the play. Except Marcio was too
deep to even attempt a fade that he got blocked. Then in overtime, Lutz
attacked the basket. I thought that at that point where Lassiter got swatted,
Lutz should have still took it strong if not pulled up for the jumper. He was
the one consistent scoring force all throughout and when he needed to attack he
passed off.

Four, I know this is pretty much situational as Leo
Austria’s best five needed a rest. He started our Semerad and Ronald Pascual in
overtime and they didn’t accomplish much. I thought that Alaska dug into their
bench and gave their players playing time if not breathers. The Aces wrangled
61 points from their bench to the 20 of SMB). Alaska didn’t play only Rome De
La Rosa and Gabby Espinas who is just back from a knee injury. Nine of the Aces
got significant playing time while SMB has six on their roster playing plenty
of minutes.

I thought the shorter rotation tired out the SMB players
that it may have contributed to poor decision making at crunch time. This also
contributed to the 26 turnovers (to the 17 of Alaska) of which not all were
forced but by their own doing (to wit the lost inbound late in the game and
Lassiter losing the pass while unguarded). Three players were not fielded by
Doug Kramer got less than five minutes. By the time Semerad re-entered the
game, he was cold. Much more so for Pascual. As for the bench, I thought that
maybe Rico Maierhofer and Doug Kramer could have helped.

SMB’s
veterans disappeared.

I’d give some credit to Alaska for this but not
entirely. But the Beermen drew poor performances from Alex Cabagnot, Chris
Ross, Marcio Lassiter, and Ronald Tubid. Furthermore, they were outplayed on
the other end by their Alaska counterparts.

Alaska’s
outside artillery found the range late in the game.

The Aces got huge three-point shots from Dondon
Hontiveros and JV Casio late in the game whereas when SMB needed a triple, they
misfired from that range.

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Who am I?

What I do for a living?

I also write regularly for Business Mirror; philstar.com; abs-cbnnews.com, and rappler.com.

I am also currently the media officer for the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup, the National Basketball Training Center, and the Flying V Davao Thunders.

I do PR consultancy for a variety of clients that I do not want to divulge.

I used to teach journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University hand have given lectures about journalism, new media, marketing, and public relations at the Ateneo, UP Diliman, UST, San Beda, Immaculate Conception Academy, Miriam College, Mindanao State University, FIFA seminars, and a few other schools and organizations.

I used to write for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Free Press, and Maxim Philippines. I have also contributed to FHM, Men's Health, Tower Sports NBA, Rebound, and a few other sports, interior design, and lifestyle magazines as well. Most recently, I was the editor-in-chief of PBA Life, the Official Lifestyle Magazine of the Philippine Basketball Association as well as Season 40 edition of Hardcourt, the season-in-review.

My blog, Bleachers' Brew, serves as a hub for many of my writings (but not all as there are some that are exclusive).

When I have free time, I listen to my collection of over 5,000 CDs, read, watch DVDs, or walk my dog around the subdivision.

Liverpool FC

My all-time favorite football team. I bleed Liverpool Red.

Books in my collection: Mad World

CDs in my collection: Movin' Up Movin' On

A compilation of some of the best underground punk rock bands in the Philippines.